I
am coming back from my hiatus to say, it’s fall, it’s fall, it’s fall!! My
favorite season is finally here and that is a reason to celebrate! So in honor
of that, and the fact that my birthday is in only seventeen days, and the fact that I hope to have my
first book finished and ready to publish by the end of the
year, I am posting a short story! Since I wrote it for my homework for the writing
class I am taking, and I got an A on it, I thought you would like to read it.
Enjoy!
Her Wayward Uncle
From
her chair in the middle of the library, Amelia clutched the book in her hands,
her eyes searching the room. She had been engrossed in the story before her when
a sound had jerked her back to the present. Noticing nothing out of the
ordinary, the nineteen year old turned back to her book, but she continued to
listen for noises. Since she was alone in the large house, the strange and
unknown noises scared her more than they usually would. She shook her head. Clearly
the book she was reading, a thrilling mystery, was making her imagine things
that were not there. She knew there was an old, ornate object cleverly hidden
in the room, and that was not helping matters either, but she tried to focus on
her story. When she had just reached the scariest part, Amelia heard and
detected a person in the room. Hugging her book to her chest, she slipped out
of her chair, her jaw dropping at what she beheld.
Her
uncle was swinging on the chandelier! With a gasp, Amelia dropped her book, frightened
and wondering what her uncle was doing there. As if reading her mind, her uncle
called down, “I was looking for a book on one of the top shelves when I saw a
mouse.” Calmly he continued to tell her his absurd story, claiming his ladder, which
he was using to grab a book from the top of the shelf, got toppled in his
fright, so he jumped to the chandelier to keep from falling. Amelia knew
better. A smart girl, she was sure he was looking for the valuable and
mysterious object that was somewhere in the room. Her great-great grandmother
had cleverly hidden it in the house, and had admonished her children
never to search it out, not for the next hundred years. Since it was a story
the whole family knew, there was no doubt someone would not follow her wishes. Apparently
her uncle, still hanging from the chandelier, had decided he was not going to
wait the five years left before the youngest member of the family was given the
go ahead to find it.
Lowering
herself back into her chair, Amelia retrieved her book, still on the floor, and
placed it back on her lap, never taking her eyes from her uncle. He must have
realized she knew why he was really there as he looked like a child caught with
his hand in the cookie jar. Quietly he asked Amelia if she would help and put
the ladder back against the wall. For a moment, she considered leaving him
there, but her good sense won out, and she replaced the fallen ladder. He quickly
scrambled down. When Amelia shot him an angry and reproving look, he cowardly
sped from the room, slamming the door behind him. Amelia smiled from her chair,
wondering if that would finally teach her wayward uncle to follow the rules.
